Sandbox / Rings of Power: Sauron

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Sauron

"I have been awake since before the breaking of the first silence. In that time, I have had many names."

Portrayed by: Charlie Vickers (as Halbrand), Will Fletcher (as Finrod in Galadriel's vision)

Galadriel: I should have left you on the sea.
Sauron: A sea that you were on because the elves cast you out. They cast you out for deigning to beg them for a few petty soldiers. What will they do when you tell them that you were my ally? When you tell them that Sauron lives BECAUSE OF YOU?!

A fallen Maia who served Morgoth during his reign as the original Dark Lord. During the Second Age he seeks to repent of his wrongs and heal that which he destroyed during his time serving his master, but will gradually fill the void and spread a new wave of horror that will haunt Middle Earth well into the next age.

All spoilers are unmarked

General Tropes

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• Ambiguous Situation: How genuine his attempts at retiring for a simple life on Númenor as a blacksmith, seeking redemption, and what - if any - orchestration he had in meeting Galadriel and the events and feelings that unfolded between them were. How much of it was her doing and how much of it was his doing. As a masterful liar and deceiver, even if he is telling the truth about something it is nigh impossible to trust his word.
• Ambition Is Evil: Sauron could be the physical embodiment of this trope. Even when he has good intentions, he is going to use the cruelest methods to achieve his goals.
• Arch-Enemy: Galadriel clearly considers him to be hers, especially after his murder and branding of her brother Finrod, considering it her mission in life to track down and destroy him, even refusing the paradise of Valinor to stay behind in Middle-earth to do so. Sauron, by contrast, sees Galadriel as his most valuable potential ally, even wishing her to become his queen and rule by his side.
• The Atoner: Sauron tells Galadriel that with Morgoth out of the picture, he had a Heel Realization about how Being Evil Sucks and wishes to undo all the damage he caused. Galadriel dismisses him anyway, as he plans to reshape Middle-earth by ruling over it, which hints that he might just be looking for any excuse to become a tyrant. That being said, his apology for killing Finrod seems to be genuine.
• Becoming the Mask: Halbrand's actor Charlie Vickers states that he believes Sauron was still in his atonement phase when meeting Galadriel, mostly because he "fears the Gods and he fears retribution". Halbrand being Halbrand is then the follow-up to Sauron praying for Eönwë's forgiveness but fleeing before facing the other Valar. On the other hand, he kept his manipulative nature intact.
• Big Bad: He's the titular Lord of the Rings, and is the commander of an army of Orcs, trolls, and other monsters who served his former master, Morgoth. Or rather, he was. When he appears in the flesh, he'd been ousted by Adar and taken human form, now deprived of all the resources that made him an immediate danger. Sauron's Big Bad status from then on was built around manipulating everyone around him into helping him ascend to power. By the end of the first series, the elves and the orcs have played right into his hands.
• Bad Boss: He performed horrific magical experiments on many of his own Orc followers, eventually to the point where Adar turned against him.
• Black Knight: During his ascension as Morgoth's successor, Sauron wore dark spiky armor, similar to the suit he wore in the cinematic trilogy.
• Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story: At some point after the War of Wrath, he takes the identity of Halbrand and tries to atone for all of his wrongdoings in his own way. On the raft, he tells Galadriel that he is from the Southlands, having fled after his homeland got destroyed by the orcs. They both arrive in Numenor where Galadriel learns that Halbrand might be the descendant of a royal line based on a pouch with a bird symbol he owns. She confronts him over it and Sauron does tell her that he found the pouch with the bird on a dead body. On his defense, he warned Galadriel he is not the hero she seeks and he just wants to be a humble blacksmith. In the end, he gives into Galadriel's insistence and rolls with her belief that he is a king, reenacting his lust for "order". When Galadriel learns of his true identity, she is understandably heartbroken.
• Devil in Plain Sight: Despite all the mystery around him and all the cryptical things he said and did as Halbrand, nobody - especially Galadriel - suspected anything until it was too late.
• Dark Messiah: Sauron is a nominal Messianic Archetype who started as a force of good before becoming a Fallen Angel and whose present goal is to establish himself as both the ruler and the savior of Middle-earth. Sauron invites Galadriel to share this role with him, claiming that he just wants to redeem himself by healing Middle-earth and rebuilding everything he destroyed under Morgoth, and by that he means conquering Middle-earth and controlling everything.
• Dragon Ascendant: He was Morgoth's right-hand man who took over when his master was banished to the Void. Subverted, as by the time he appeared Adar had rebelled against him and left Sauron with nothing.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He claims that he was released from being evil when Morgoth was defeated. A few sentences later, he fails to understand why Galadriel is trying to draw a distinction between "saving" and ruling Middle-earth. Sauron doesn't see his own evil because he isn't driven by spite the way his master was; he thinks he's trying to fix everything by making it orderly.
• Evil Is Bigger: He towers over the stooped Orcs in his service and is a head taller than most humans even when assuming human form.
• Evil Counterpart: Galadriel calls him the Dark Lord, while Sauron wants Galadriel to be his light.
• Evil Mentor:
  • For Galadriel, he tries to teach her how to get under people's skin and use their fear against them.
  • For Celebrimbor, he shows him how to process the Mithril and the path to obtain the power of the Unseen World.
• Evil Sorcerer: Described as such in Galadriel's prologue speech.
• Fallen Angel: Much like the Balrog, Sauron is a Maia who was corrupted by Morgoth. Unlike the Balrog, he has apparently maintained a human size.
• Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: As a human, he is a dashing, charming man with Puppy-Dog Eyes, and an Aragorn look-alike to boot. But in the end he is a Fallen Angel, a former servant of Morgoth, and someone whose deeds are so horrible that even the Orcs hate him.
• Faking the Dead: While the nature of a Maia's death is ambiguous, apparently Adar managed to temporarily kill Sauron. Sauron either revived himself or survived the murder attempt, and feeling betrayed, he decided to take a human form and hide himself from everyone.
• Fatal Flaw: The lack of self-awareness. His inability to make distinction between healing and remaking what he destroyed in the War of Wrath, and seeking to become a God-Emperor over Middle-earth is what makes Galadriel to reject his offer to become his queen consort, but he doesn't understand the reasoning behind her rejection and leaves in anger.
• Fighting a Shadow: Even as a Maia, his guts will spill just like anyone else's, but killing his physical body is only an inconvenience, as he can just reform a new one, though it may take some time. Adar killed Sauron prior to the start of the series, but he was able to come back in the form of Halbrand.
• Good Feels Good: And twisted when it comes to Sauron. He confides in Galadriel that after Morgoth was defeated, he enjoyed feeling the light of Eru Ilúvatar once again and sought to become an Ascended Demon. He tries to manipulate Galadriel into joining forces with him because she is his Good Counterpart and could bind her light to him and together they could rule Middle-earth, earning the forgiveness of the Valar through her.
• Hated by All: As Adar tells Galadriel, even the Orcs can't stand Sauron due to being treated as pawns in his ambitions.
• Hellish Pupils: When screaming in rage at Galadriel, his human disguise slips to show he has vertically-slitted pupils, foreshadowing his image in the Third Age.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: Initially believed to be either dead or in the process of resurrection, it turns out Sauron has been active this whole time, just adopting a false identity.
• He's Back!: Before Galadriel finding him in the middle of the ocean, Sauron was a powerful Maia and the right hand of Morgoth. Sometime after the War of Wrath, he spent centuries trying to tap the Power of the Seen and the Unseen world by using Orcs as his lab-rats, with the goal of healing Middle-earth of the destruction he and Morgoth provoked. But he was betrayed and killed temporarily by Adar. When Galadriel finds him, Sauron pretends to be a human, being at his lowest point, having given up whatever plans he had before. But Galadriel's determination to hunt down "Sauron", reawakens in him his desire for power and order. He recovers his strength and confidence and tries once again to obtain the power he wants. By the end of Season 1, he is back to his sadistic and deceiving ways, and makes a Sarcastic Confession to Galadriel about how she saved him when he gave up on himself and pushed him to heights that no one did before.
• Horned Humanoid: Sauron can take many forms, but the mirror vision he shows to Galadriel reveals that his preferred form is the one of a Tin Tyrant with a horned Rage Helm.
• Humanoid Abomination: Sauron is a fallen Maiar who takes a humanoid form, sometimes that of a colossal figure clad in spiky black armor.
• I Can Change My Beloved: Sauron attempts to weaponize this against Galadriel by claiming she could prevent him from being the Dark Lord if they were married. It falls flat when he admits that he still can't understand that saving Middle-earth and ruling over it as a God-King are different.
• I Have Many Names: When Galadriel demands to tell her his name, Sauron answers that he's had many names dating back to the dawn of time.
• Immortal Ruler: He's been alive since the breaking of the First Silence and his goal is to rule over Middle-earth, bringing an order that would ultimately oppress all living things.
• In Love with Your Carnage: Sauron first starts dropping hints about "binding" himself to Galadriel after watching her kill multiple Orcs and threatening to torture others, as well as vowing to commit genocide on all Orcs just so Adar can helplessly watch.
• Intrigued by Humanity: Sauron is awestruck by the beauty of Numenor. He never thought that Men could touch this level of civilization. While he is being walked around Armenelos, he smiles at seeing several children playing, and later he decides he wants to live a simple life as a blacksmith in Numenor.
• Irony: Unknown to both characters, Sauron, as Halbrand saves Elendil's life, the very man whose blood line will became his bane one day.
• It's All About Me: Everything Sauron ever did or will do is about Sauron himself. He promptly forgot about Morgoth being trapped in the void, going to beg the Valar for forgiveness. Then he decided to just hide, fearing their retribution. Then he decided to hurt the Uruk so badly in his experiments to "heal Arda" that they decided to betray and kill him. Then he decided he wanted Eru's forgiveness and Galadriel's love, and tortured Galadriel because she dared to refuse him.
• Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge: He knows a lot of horrible secrets, but especially about how to obtain the power of the Unseen World, which he is very happy to share with Celebrimbor.
• Love Redeems: Deconstructed. After developing feelings for Galadriel, Sauron tells her that he will atone for all his crimes if she will be his queen. The implications being that he's holding her responsible for his inevitable lapse back into villainy once she rejects him.
• Manipulative Bastard: And how. He isn't known as The Deceiver for nothing. From the moment he met Galadriel, he manipulated everyone from Numenor to the Southlands.
• Mirror Character: Sauron and Galadriel in many ways are almost mirror opposites, Sauron representing darkness and fire where Galadriel represents light and water. There are, however, also many similarities between the two, something which Galadriel becomes increasingly aware of and horrified to realise during the first season. They’re both extremely Hot-Blooded Determinators who are not above using others to get what they want, and they both have a desire to rule and have influence over others. It’s these qualities that make Sauron see her as worthy of being his queen, as he believes he can see her greatness and her power where her fellow elves can’t.
• The Mirror Shows Your True Self: After transporting Galadriel into an illusory world made of her memories, she sees his reflection in the sea, which looks darker and more intimidating than his current form.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: After Morgoth's defeat, the Orcs followed Sauron in the far Forodwaith. Sauron too used them as slaves and made abhorrent experiments on them to convey the power of the Seen and Unseen World. He sacrificed countless lives using Dark and blood magic, until one of them, Adar, got tired of the mistreatment and killed him. Since then the Orcs follow Adar, who genuinely cares for them.
• Mook Maker: Galadriel narrates that after the defeat of the Great Foe, Sauron made sure the Orcs secretly multiplied in great numbers.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Without his contribution in forging the three rings, the Elves would have had to abandon Middle-earth, and with them, his only organized opposition.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: As Halbrand he saves Elendil's life during the battle at Tirharad, and saves the elves with the knowledge he contributes to forging the rings and keeping them from having to leave for Valinor, not knowing that in the future Elendil will, along with Gil-Galad, ultimately bring about his downfall and the end of the Second Age.
• Not Good with Rejection: How does Sauron respond to Galadriel's rejection of him? He roars in fury and then traps her in an illusion of her drowning. He also seems to have actually pushed her into the river because that's where Elrond finds her.
• Not Quite Dead: Adar claims he killed Sauron, except Sauron survived the assassination attempt and took the identity of Halbrand at some point before the current events.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: When Galadriel confronts him about his deeds, Sauron claims that he truly wants to save Middle-earth and to atone, which is indeed a noble goal to have even if it's done through extreme means, except what he truly wants is to rule and reshape Middle-earth in his image, making his goal ultimately just selfish.
• Obliviously Evil: Implied. He doesn't seem able to understand that what he does and strives for is evil, regardless of his possible good intentions.
• Offscreen Villainy: In the first season we are shown his attempts at manipulation and corruption, with most other highlights of his malign long record being told or referenced by other characters.
• Physical God: For now, he has a physical form.
• Personality Powers: Befitting his deceiving and manipulative nature, Sauron is a shapeshifter and a Master of Illusion. His aspiration to remodel the world into his own image also fits in with his blacksmithing skills.
• Playing with Syringes: A magical example. After going into hiding, he delved deep into experiments with the Unseen World that involved sacrificing an uncounted number of orcs to uncover dark secrets hidden even from him.
• Promoted to Love Interest: In the show, Sauron becomes Galadriel’s Implied Love Interest, whom she has sexual tension with while he’s disguised as “Halbrand”, and even almost succeeds in seducing her to the dark side during the season finale. In the source material Galadriel has nothing but hostility for him, having personally helped oust him from his abode in Dol Guldur. The concept of the Dark Lord wanting the fair Elven lady was likely burrowed from The Silmarillion, wherein Morgoth had a Villainous Crush on Lúthien.
• Psychological Projection: He sees himself in Galadriel, as the dark to her light and vice versa. Galadriel confesses how betrayed she felt by people close to her who could no longer distinguish her from the very dark she was fighting. True to his nature, he is deceiving, but he does empathizes with Galadriel because he felt the same after Morgoth's defeat and Adar's betrayal. He assumes that Galadriel is like him; attracted to his darkness as he is attracted to her light, resulting in him asking her to rule Middle-earth by his side. Sauron gets her attention when he tells her that he's the only one who sees her greatness, when everybody else is doubting her.
• Pretty Boy: Waldreg describes Sauron as being a "beautiful servant" of Morgoth, who shall return one day to rule the Southlands.
• Redemption Quest: Sauron tells Galadriel that after Morgoth's defeat, he went on a quest of healing Middle-earth in order to earn the forgiveness of the Valar. This being Sauron, his way of healing and reconstructing what he helped destroy, was by making experiments on Orcs that would put to shame any Evilutionary Biologist.
• Reformed, but Rejected: Sauron wants to continue his penance by "healing" Middle-earth, if possible, with Galadriel's help, but she reminds him that no penance could erase the evil he has done. Galadriel almost considers his offer once Sauron shows their future together, but outright rejects him when she realizes that he sees no distinction between saving Middle-earth and ruling it as a god-king.
• Retired Monster: According to himself, he was originally intending to just lie low in Númenor after his temporary death at Adar’s hand without pursuing any vengeance or planning any evil schemes but Galadriel’s urging and advice reawakened his desire for “order”.
• Satanic Archetype: What he becomes by the end of Season 1, after deceiving everyone. Bonus points for having Hellish Pupils and Mordor as his lair.
• Shadow Archetype:
  • In a sense, Sauron is what Galadriel could become if she would give in her darkest impulses. She is already revengeful, ambitious, not exactly above using people for her own ends, and is hell-bend on committing genocide against the Orcs. Galadriel is able to recognize she would turn into a tyrant next to Sauron, though he merely wants her to be his Queen.
  • Also he's a Shadow Archetype of his very future nemesis, Aragorn. His human identity is built of the same mold Aragorn had built as Strider, appealing to the fantasies of a young elven maiden growing up with the myths of Beren and Tuor fresh in mind. A "lost king" stripped of his royal upbringing and rightful throne from an evil impostor, humble in his looks and gruff in his ways but ultimately noble and good willed, ready to lead his people to salvation. But while Aragorn was the real deal, Halbrand was the impostor all along. And while Aragorn was eager to accept his destiny, Halbrand kept refusing it until Galadriel snapped him out of his bad mental state.
• Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: He uses this trick on Galadriel after she proceeds to attack him, and traps her into a Mind Rape where he takes the form of her brother back when they both lived in Valinor. Galadriel is taken aback to see him alive and falls for the deceit until "Finrod" starts to justify Sauron's deeds.
• Shapeshifting Trickster: While he is not shown shapeshifting on screen, it's implied anyway that he can take multiple forms. As Halbrand, he acts as an Evil Mentor for Galadriel and Celebrimbor for his own ends.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: A monstrosity of a being with a smooth voice, and inhumanly creepy.
• Spikes of Villainy: The form he assumes when taking command of the Orc legion has long spikes jutting out of his head and shoulders.
• Take Over the World: Well, his plans are to heal and rebuild Middle-earth, though in his case it actually means ruling over the entire realm.
• Tin Tyrant: Just like in the prologue of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Sauron assumes the form of a large humanoid wearing spiky black armour in the prologue of the series, although his set of armour — from what we can see of it — is different in this time period.
• Trick-and-Follow Ploy: Charlie Vickers believes Sauron wounded himself offscreen during the Orodruin's eruption, to make sure that Galadriel brings him in Eregion where he could take advantage of the Elven Smiths and use their knowledge for his own ends.
• Troll: Sauron must have had a lot of fun faking being a human, making constant Sarcastic Confessions about his true nature, yet going along with what the people chose to believe about him, deceiving everyone left and right, listening Galadriel recounting him how Sauron killed her brother and than leading him in Eregion.
• Time Abyss: Sauron is possibly the oldest being in the show, and he has "been awake since before the breaking of the first silence."
• Undercover When Alone: Sauron as Halbrand, has many moments where he looks genuinely upset, detached and conflicted whenever he is alone, blurring even more the border between the moments he was being deceptive or genuine.
• Using You All Along: Galadriel accuses him of deceiving her the whole time and using her to touch his goals. Sauron claims it's the opposite; Galadriel helped him get his mojo back after he had already given up and decided Screw This, I'm Outta Here, and Galadriel's plan was so good that Sauron decided to just roll with it.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Adar claims that after the War of Wrath, Sauron intended to heal Middle-earth's wounds and create a new, perfectly ordered realm. This being Sauron, the process involved a lot of torturous magical experiments on his own subjects.
• Villainous Crush: Sauron wishes to make Galadriel his queen so that together they can heal (and rule) Middle-earth and pleads with her to "bind her light" to him and he will "bind his power" to her. He appears to have manufactured the whole scenario of him (in the form of Halbrand) ending up stranded at sea purely so that he can meet her and gain her trust in order to eventually win her to his side. Galadriel, though seemingly tempted, doesn't give in, clearly being disgusted with his proposal.
  Sauron: All others look on you with doubt... I alone can see your greatness. I alone can see your light.
  Galadriel: You would make me a tyrant.
  Sauron: I would make you a queen. Fair as the sea and the sun. Stronger than the foundations of the earth.
  Galadriel: And you... my king? The Dark Lord?
  Sauron: No, not dark, not with you at my side. You told me once that we were brought together for a purpose... this is it. You bind me to the light, and I bind you to power. Together we can save this Middle-earth.
• Villains Blend in Better: Unlike Galadriel who struggles to accommodate in Numenor, he blends in better among Numenorians and tries to befriend them.
• We Can Rule Together: Sauron offers to make Galadriel his Queen, promising her godlike powers if she become the light to his darkness.
• Zorro Mark: Villainous example; he branded Finrod's corpse and Adar's face with his mark.

Sauron's Disguise

"What do you know of darkness?"

"You don’t know what I did before I ended up on that raft. You don’t know how I survived, how we all survived. And when these people discover it they will cast me out... so will you."

After being defeated by Adar, Sauron was reborn as a mysterious man of the Southlands who crosses paths with and joins Galadriel in her return to Middle-earth.

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• Amazon Chaser: He is impressed by Galadriel's martial prowess and genuinely appreciates her for the warrior she is. Deconstructed, after he is revealed to be Sauron, when everything gains a darker connotation. He wanted Galadriel by his side as his Queen to rule Middle-earth together for her evil potential.
• Ambiguously Evil: He shows few pangs of conscience for leaving his fellow sailors (most of whom are admittedly jerks) to be eaten by a sea serpent, but does save Galadriel from drowning. He also has moments of brooding silence and coldness now and again, despite his charm and sociable manner most of the time, does not hesitate to steal, and shows his violent side when he viciously beats four Númenórean men, even if they did somewhat have it coming. He also instructs Galadriel on the art of using other people's fears to manipulate them into mastering them. Becomes far less ambiguous when his true identity as a form for Sauron is revealed.
• Angel Unaware: Halbrand is not a mere human, but Sauron the Dark Lord himself, part of the Maiar, Tolkien's version of angels. After being "killed" by Adar, he took on the form of a human being in order to walk among the inhabitants of Middle-earth incognito, deceiving them without revealing his true nature, until Galadriel confronts him about his true identity.
• Animal Motifs: Subverted. For most of the Season, Halbrand wears a pouch with the bird sigil that seems to be an important Chekhov's Gun. He tells Galadriel he found the pouch on a dead man, but she believes he is lying and that he carries his dynasty's sigil. In the final of season 1, Galadriel finally discovers that the bird sigil really means nothing, and that Sauron assumed a human form and stole the pouch from a dead man, most likely the last true king of the Southlands.
• Apparently Powerless Puppetmaster: One of the advantages of the Halbrand persona for Sauron is that posing as a human gives him the opportunity of deceiving everyone around him and hanging out with Elves without raising suspicions about him until it's too late for the fooled party. After all, he is just a "low-man" from the back-water Southlands.
• Bait the Dog: For most of the season, Halbrand is a roguish yet honorable young man — if a bit morally questionable — who easily befriends everyone with his charisma and becomes Galadriel's confidant on her journey. Until he revealed himself as Sauron that is, which calls into question all of his moments of showing good will to others.
• Beneath Notice: After getting betrayed and attacked by Adar, Sauron, feeling down, decides to go incognito. He intentionally chose to pass as a plain, mere Man dressed in rags when he could have passed as a much noble Races, or at least as a man who belonged to some nobility. And it works for a while because nobody expected Sauron to take the form of a King Incognito who wants to pass as some commoner.
• Big Bad Friend: Sauron stood in front of Galadriel the whole time as she confided in him about Finrod, and why she was hunting for him. In his defense, he asks Galadriel several times to stop and just let him be, and warned her that he is not the hero she sees in him. Galadriel even goes into denial and lists all the supposed good things she witnessed he did after learning that the man she thought was her friend, is Sauron himself.
• Big Damn Heroes: In rough seas, Galadriel is thrown from the wreckage she and Halbrand cling to and is dragged deep underwater by debris. Halbrand dives in after her, following a line of rope entangled around her leg and pulls her back up to the surface — an act which gains her trust.
• The Blacksmith: Halbrand shows a great interest in blacksmithing and seems to have a great yearning to do so, even claiming that his smithing skills are unmatched, to the point of begging a blacksmith to let him help out in any sort of forging and even attempting to steal a guild emblem so he can be allowed to forge. He later demonstrates that he is indeed quite a capable smith, forging fine weapons with ease that impress the other blacksmiths.
• Briar Patching: It's revealed that Halbrand only played the part of the reluctant heir to the throne to manipulate Galadriel into pushing him into power.
• Canon Character All Along: It's finally revealed in the Season 1 finale that he's actually a disguised Sauron, filling Annatar's role from The Silmarillion.
• The Charmer: He's extremely affable and easily manages to make friends even in the most hostile situations.
• The Chessmaster: He's a skilled manipulator, and when advising Galadriel on politics he advises her to learn what her enemies fear, not to exploit those fears (which would be obvious), but rather to give them the means to master their fears, in order to master them.
• Color-Coded Eyes: Halbrand gets a lot of close-ups of his deceptive greenish, hazel eyes.
• Combat Pragmatist: Halbrand uses every advantage he can to win a fight — breaking arms, knocking someone's head against a wall, and tripping a horse with a spear to send Adar flying into his path.
• Composite Character: Despite being revealed to be a repentant Sauron, Halbrand's subplot is fashioned after Aragorn from the LOTR trilogy. While he lets everyone believe he is the lost heir of the Southlands, the people are pinning all their hopes in terms of uniting them, as he follows same road as Aragorn. He chose the path of self-imposed exile; Aragorn is troubled by his inheritance because of Isildur falling to the temptation of the One Ring, and Halbrand because he swore an oath to Morgoth. Galadriel tells Halbrand, in her attempt to convince him to reclaim his birthright, that men like him indeed used to fight alongside Morgoth, but not he himself, in a similar fashion to Arwen assuring Aragorn that he is Isildur's heir, not Isildur himself. Upon introduction, Halbrand is scruffy-looking most of the time, but after He Cleans Up Nicely he gets the same "returning king" feel as Aragorn does.
• The Confidant: To Galadriel. Due to his highly observant skills, it wasn't hard for Halbrand to get under Galadriel's skin and make her show him her vulnerable side and confide in him her fears and darkest thoughts. And indeed, he knows Galadriel's nature better than anyone.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Implied; with him intent on running away from his life in the Southlands after it was taken by the Orcs, wanting a fresh start on Númenor as a blacksmith, and being quite reluctant about Galadriel's wishes for him to help her reclaim the Southlands as their king. He further alludes to it at Galadriel's pressing, believing he has done things nobody, even Galadriel, would forgive him for.
• Deadpan Snarker: Acerbic wit is a great skill of his.
• Dead Person Impersonation: Of the Fake King variety. He has an amulet belonging to Southlands royalty that he found on a dead man, as he says several times. Galadriel refuses to admit his version and keeps insisting Halbrand is the genuine heir, so he finally goes along with it. He's then warmly welcome as king in the Southlands by the smallfolk. It turns out there hasn't been a king there since one thousand years ago, something that nobody knew or cared about until Galadriel discovers it on the elven records.
• Death Glare: Halbrand is a very easy-going fella, but when he is angry, he stares daggers at everyone.
• Devil in Disguise: A fallen Maia disguised as a mere human.
• Double Meaning: With the revelation that he is Sauron, the master of deceiving, every conversation, deed and Longing Look he ever gave to Galadriel is called into question. When Galadriel confronts him about everything he ever said, or good deed he did, Sauron reminds Galadriel that he kept on telling her that he's done unimaginable evil when she accused him of deceiving her, and that she did not care about his past, of which he deserves to be free.
• Establishing Character Moment: The first time he appears, Halbrand is in the middle of nowhere, floating adrift with a group of people on a piece of driftwood. He stops Galadriel from trying to get on the driftwood, and his first speech to her is cryptic: "The tides of fate are flowing, yours might be heading in, or out". The other survivors decide to help Galadriel and while they are questioning her, Halbrand's next line is "looks can be deceiving", which is the first hint of Halbrand's true identity and powers as a shapeshifter.
• Evil All Along: "Halbrand" turns out to be an identity assumed by Sauron himself.
• Foreshadowing: The fact that he was actually Sauron all along was heavily foreshadowed throughout the first season when one looks at his list of character traits, and those of Sauron in the First Age and the Second Age; there's a huge amount of overlap.
  • The very first shot of Halbrand only has one eye and one of his first lines is "Looks can be deceiving".
  • While on the raft, he says that Galadriel will have a hard time finding safety, what with Sauron being near her all this time.
  • Halbrand's eyebrows go up when seeing Galadriel's dagger while saving her from drowning, meaning he probably recognized it.
  • In Numenor he begs Galadriel to let him keep the peace he searched for his entire life, hinting at his past as Morgoth's servant, and trying to redeem himself for what he has done under Morgoth's rule.
  • Halbrand teases Galadriel about not making new enemies since her greatest enemy is right there talking to her.
  • He beats up five men to a bloody pulp in the streets of Armenelos and shows the first signs of Super-Strength.
  • In Numenor he becomes a blacksmith and creates some fine weapons for the Numenorian soldiers.
  • Right before Galadriel sees Halbrand in jail, we see a puppet Galadriel bow in a Numenorian play.
  • Galadriel tells Halbrand he's in jail because he resents wearing commoner clothes and the armor that should be on his shoulder ways heavily on his heart.
  • Halbrand seemingly teaches Galadriel how to get under her opponents' skin by identifying what they fear if she wants to get what she wants. Nothing wrong with trying to teach someone to think before acting, a thing Galadriel is not very good at, the problem is he's teaching her what he himself is doing to her, and others, as Sauron.
  • Galadriel Dramatic Ironcally blackmails him into returning to the Southlands because otherwise, the people will assume that he is the one using her to become the king of the Southlands. Halbrand can't help but smirk just a little when she talks about crowning him.
  • He warns Galadriel that he did unspeakable things that will cast him out. She doesn't listen. Later, it turns out Sauron meant being Morgoth's servant, killing Finrod, and torturing Orcs — among other terrible things.
  • On the ship to the Southlands, he is not shown sleeping, a nod to him being the 'Lidless Eye' who never sleeps. As a Maiar his stamina would be limitless.
  • When Galadriel chases Adar, Halbrand appears out of nowhere from the opposite direction and captures Adar. There was no way for him to know in what direction Adar and Galadriel might go, unless he is Sauron who has the power to instantly detect the locations of his hidden opponents.
  • He asks Adar if he remembers him before trying to kill him. Later, Adar recounts to Galadriel that he killed Sauron.
  • During his Love Confession to Galadriel after capturing Adar, he tells her he enjoys her company and would like to bind that feeling to himself forever. When Galadriel confronts him in the season finale, he reveals what he truly meant by that; it was an invitation to become his queen and rule Middle-earth together.
• The Gadfly: He likes to push Galadriel's buttons and trade Snark To Snark Combats with her.
• Grin of Audacity: Halbrand has a confident smirk on his face every time he is up to something (and he is up to something all the time), befitting his roguish charm.
• Guile Hero: When dealing with the Númenorians, and in contrast to the blunter and brutally honest Action Heroine Galadriel, Halbrand shows himself to be diplomatically savvy, charming, highly observant, and also a pretty good pickpocket.
• He Cleans Up Nicely: When he finally agrees to take part in the expedition to Middle-earth, Halbrand tidies up his previously lank hair and dons a full suit of regal-looking armour, and goes from wandering vagabond to instantly looking like a king.
• Held Gaze: He is the one initiating most of the Longing Looks with Galadriel, from the first moment they met.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: He doesn't bother with a helmet while fighting the Orcs at Tirharad. (He gets wounded in the side instead.)
• Hesitation Equals Dishonesty:
  • When an imprisoned Adar asks Halbrand who he is, Halbrand turns his back on Adar and stops for a few moments, but then leaves without answering the question, implying that he was dishonest about his identity.
  • When Bronwyn asks him if he is the king he was promised, he hesitates to answer and looks at Galadriel, who nods affirmatively, and only then Halbrand says "yes".
• Humble Goal: At least temporarily, Halbrand just wanted to be a blacksmith in Numenor and lead a peaceful life until Galadriel "pushed him to heights that no one else could have". But since Halbrand is also everybody's favorite Dark Lord, how much this would have lasted is to anyone's guess.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: He refuses at first to return to Middle-earth and prefers to make a life for himself in Numenor. Galadriel convinces him to return to Middle-earth with her and redeem both of their bloodlines by stopping Sauron's forces in the Southlands.
• Indy Ploy: Apparently, he didn't plan to confront Adar or meet and influence Celebrimbor, those events happened by chance and he went along with it, taking advantage of the situation. He states that his initial goal was reaching Númenor, and stumbling upon Galadriel in the middle of the ocean was also a cosmic coincidence.
• Implied Love Interest: By the episode “Udûn”, Halbrand appears to have formed a very deep bond with Galadriel, the two even seeming to confess their feelings for each other following the Battle for the Southlands, though whether their sentiment is meant to be romantic or platonic is left up in the air as they are swiftly interrupted. The constant Ship Tease between the characters, Held Gazes and setup of the scene seem to strongly indicate the former though.
  Galadriel: Thank you… for pulling me back.
  Halbrand: It was you who pulled me back first.
  Galadriel: Whatever it was he did to you, and whatever it is that you did, be free of it.
  Halbrand: I never believed I could be… until today. Fighting at your side, I… I felt… If I could just hold on to that feeling, keep it with me always, bind it to my very being, then I…
  Galadriel: I felt it too.
• King Incognito: From his amulet, Galadriel infers that he's the direct descendant of the King of the Southlands. Though as he points out, that king was appointed by Morgoth, and he doesn't seem to be proud to belong to such a bloodline, or at least, he just lets others believe this about him.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Galadriel brings Halbrand in Eregion to treats his wounds with Evish cures. There, he meets Celebrimbor for the first time and expresses a childlike enthusiasm upon seeing the True Craftsman he heard so much about it. "The Celembribor?"
• Lessons in Sophistication: The Social Expert Halbrand tries to teach the stubborn and entitled Galadriel to behave herself at the Numenorian royal court. He advises her to kneel in front of Queen Miriel, and when they both land in prison, he tells her that if she wants to obtain what she wants, she should analyze people's fears and use them to her advantage, instead of just antagonizing everyone around her.
• Looks Like Jesus: Halbrand has unkempt, shaggy shoulder-length hair and sports a Perma-Stubble. He physically resembles Aragorn from the movie trilogy and he lets everyone assume he is a promised savior for the Southlanders. Too bad he is just Sauron posing as a corrupted version of the promised savior.
• Love-Interest Traitor: Despite all the romantic tension between them, not to mention the genuine affection, it turns out Halbrand was manipulating Galadriel all along.
• Manipulative Bastard: While in jail, he advises Galadriel to find out what her foes want to master and help them do it so she can master them. Turns out, he was doing this to her the whole time.
• Meaningful Echo: Despite not having been privy to their prior conversation, he somehow echoes Elrond's previous statement to Galadriel about her refusing to lay down her sword.
• Meaningful Look: A master of it. Since he is Sauron in disguise, it's hard to know what he is truly thinking, especially in moments where he is alone and contemplating.
• Mellow Fellow: Halbrand is very laid-back and personable. His Dreamworks Face and devil-may-care disposition can make him seem nonchalant.
• Metaphorically True: Much of the background he “revealed” to Galadriel is accurate in a very broad, vague sense, but deeply deceptive in truth, though coached in a way that likely reflects his Self-Serving Memory; he is, in a way, a "king" of the Southlands appointed by Morgoth, and has indeed done horrible, horrible things... he’s just leaving out how direct his relationship to Morgoth was and the actual scale and personal nature of his offenses.
• Morality Chain: He and Galadriel appear to share this role for one another, with Galadriel stopping him from executing Adar in his rage after they capture him, as well as convincing him to lose his apathy and fulfill his duties and attempt to save the Southlands from the Orcs in the first place. After The Reveal about his true identity, he suggests that she could "bind him to light" as his queen, rather than return to his previous dark ways. She rejects this, partly because she can't forgive his crimes but also because what he's suggesting is still evil and he doesn't understand that.
• Mysterious Past: He's not especially forthcoming, forcing Galadriel to have to do research and infer about him, deducing that he is really the heir of the Southlands.
• Mysterious Stranger: First introduced as the survivor of a shipwreck in the Belegaer Ocean. The circumstances that led to his presence in the middle of the sea accompanied by other humans remain an untold mystery, though his comparatively vital, engaging manner, versus those with him, is an initial clue to his duplicity.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: In Armenelos, Halbrand gets in troubles with four bullies after stealing the smith guild crest from their boss. Halbrand warns them to not attack him, which they don't listen to. He wipes the floor with them.
• The Not-Love Interest: Galadriel and Halbrand/Sauron have a strong Foe Romantic Subtext going on with them from the moment they met. They check every romantic box possible, Held Gaze, being Mirror Characters, Belligerent Sexual Tension, holding hands, being each other's confidant, an ambiguous love confession, and Sauron even asking Galadriel to be his queen (whatever he actually meant by that). And yet, according to Word of God, there was nothing romantic between them, just a cosmic connection. Charlie Vickers believes Sauron never felt anything romantic because he is the embodiment of evil and evil can only love itself. As for Galadriel, she has a husband that she clearly misses since his disappearance.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Halbrand presents an affable, non-violent exterior and even appears outright cowardly on occasion. But when cornered and given no other choice, he takes down four Númenorian men effortlessly.
• Opportunistic Bastard: Sauron didn't have any plan and met Galadriel by chance, and from there, he just latched onto her schemes just to see where Galadriel will lead him.
• One Head Taller: While in the books, it would be a 6'4" Galadriel who towers over Halbrand, here, he towers over her very short stature.
• Only One Name: After listening to Galadriel naming all of her titles in from of Miriel in an attempt to intimidate, Halbrand introduces himself as simply Halbrand of the Southlands.
• Perpetual Smiler: Halbrand has a mysterious smirk on his face all the time. He was probably just smiling to himself about how gullible everyone is.
• Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: Not that anyone knew Halbrand was Sauron in disguise, but he is much more personable and patient than Galadriel, who straight-up threatens the Numenorians after a heated argument with Queen Miriel.
• Power Echoes: When Galadriel spurns and threatens to reveal him, Halbrand fully reveals his true form as Sauron, shouting that if she does so, she will be exiled or worse due to having helped him, his voice growing distorted and echoic with rage.
• Rebel Prince: He poses as the heir to a nameless royal dynasty of the Southlands, but chose exile instead of leading his people.
• Rags to Royalty: Literal example, from shipwrecked at sea to king in the Southlands.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Galadriel's red. He is much more calm, charming, sociable, coldly cunning and manipulative than she is, better at diplomacy and finding the best ways to get what he wants.
• Refused the Call: He tries to flee the Southlands when the Orcs arrive, rather than fight against (or join) them, and continues to resist Galadriel's belief they were fated to meet along, with her attempts to convince him to fight by her side and reclaim his believed birthright as king of the Southlands. He's initially more interested in starting a new life for himself elsewhere, but he eventually gives in to Galadriel's wishes, and joins her to fight in the Southlands.
• Rejected Apology: When Galadriel tells him about her past and the death of her brother at the hands of Sauron, he tells her "I'm sorry. For your brother. For all of it." As Finrod died centuries before Halbrand would have been born, Galadriel just takes this as an empty expression of thoughts and prayers and shoots him down.
• Rightful King Returns: For the Southlands. The Southrons receive Halbrand with open arms after learning that he is the king that was promised. Then Galadriel does some further digging into the Elven archives and finds out that the last king of the Southlands died without an heir over a thousand years ago.
• Sarcastic Confession: He's fond of these. From the beginning he dryly tells Galadriel straight out that the amulet that supposedly marks him as the heir to the Southlands throne was found by him on a dead man. Also, with a much more sincere tone, he repeatedly tells Galadriel that he's a worse person than she thinks and has done things that would horrify her. She assumes that he was seduced or coerced to serve the dark powers of Middle-earth as a mortal Man, which would be forgivable... not that he is himself one of those dark powers.
• Second Episode Introduction: He does not appear in the first episode, showing up at the beginning of the second one.
• Ship Tease: Seems to be forming between him and Galadriel, between coming back for her in the ocean after leaving the rest of his companions for dead, saving her life when she nearly drowns, their frequent bickering, retrieving her beloved dead brother's dagger for her when it is taken from her, their Held Gaze moments, quiet conversations, teasing her playfully, teaching her about how to exploit the weaknesses of enemies, and other characters on Númenor mocking Halbrand as being her mate, with the way they speak of her derogatorily seeming to silently anger him.
• Short-Lived Leadership: He stays the so called King of the Southlanders for a day; 1) because of Orodruin erupts just in day he arrived in Tirharad and destroys the Southlands, and 2) he is Sauron.
• A Sinister Clue: Halbrand's dominant hand is the left one, and is one of the first clues he is Sauron because when he appears in his original form in Galadriel's Minor Kidrudaction, he holds his scepter in his left hand.
• Sticky Fingers: He casually and effortlessly steals back Galadriel's dagger from Elendil, and later snatches a guild emblem from one of the Númenorean workers. It's implied that the money he spends in the Númenorean tavern was acquired the same way.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: Galadriel comes to believe in Numenor that Halbrand is the lost king of the Southlands. She confronts Halbrand over it and he confesses he simply found the pouch with the bird on a dead body. Galadriel decides that Halbrand is lying to her because he wants to run away from his own destiny. Seeing her insistence, he decides to just go along with whatever Galadriel wants to believe for her own convenience.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Halbrand is almost taller than the entire cast, has dark-brown hair and a twisted sense of humor and snarking.
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: The most feared being in Middle-Earth assumed the form of a vagabond.
• Token Super: Among the humans and the Elves he was deceiving, Halbrand is the only being with explicit supernatural powers because he is a Maia.
• Tranquil Fury: If Halbrand is angry, he doesn't shout or scream, in fact, he will ask people to stop from attacking him (as if pre-warning them) before having a sudden burst of violence.
• Unknown Rival: He seems to have a sizable grudge against Adar. Adar for his part has no idea who he is, though Halbrand doesn't seem too surprised by this. It's later revealed that he's actually Sauron and he hates Adar for previously killing him while Adar doesn't recognize him due to the disguise.
• Villainous Rescue: He saves Elendil's life by throwing a spear at an orc who was about to kill Elendil.
• Warrior Prince: He is a remarkably competent fighter and a prince of royal blood via his descent from the Southlands (currently deposed) royal family. As Galadriel later discovers, his superhuman strength and reflexes are because he's not human at all.
• You Never Asked: He seldom outright lies, instead relying on others either reading much more into his statements than they should based on their desires, or (in Galadriel's case) her ignoring his Sarcastic Confessions. From what we see of his "real" personality, he wasn't going out of his way to act differently as Halbrand, either.

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